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ESS,) 

H Session. ) \ No. 959. 



DISPOSITION OF OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION 
AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. 



MESSAGE 

FROM THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

TRANSMITTING 

A COMMUNICATION CONCERNING THE DISPOSITION OF THE AC- 
CUMULATION OF VOLUMES OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE 
UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES IN THE OFFICE OF THE 
ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE ARMY. 



.January 7, 1U21. — Read, referred to the Comniittee on Military Affairs, and 

ordered to be printetl. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith, with my approval, for the consideration of 
•the Congress a communication from the Secretary of War siifj^jjesting 
the enactment at an early date of leo;islation aiithorizintr the Secre- 
tary of War to make dis])osition of the volumes of the Official 
Records of the I'nion and C'onfederate Armies, which have accumu- 
lated in considerable numbers in the Office of The Adjutant General 
of the Army. 

WOODROW WiLSOX. 

The White House, 

Januari/ 7, 1921. 



War Department, 

Washington, December 15, 1920. 
The President, 

The White House. 
My Dear Mr. President : Durin^r recent years volumes of the 
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies have accu- 
mulated in considerable numbers in the Office of The Adjutant Gen- 



2 DISPOSITION or OFFICIAL RECORDS. ,UL 6 Z 

eral of the Army. These vohimes, to the number of 3G,.557, have 
been received in that office from various sources, principally from 
the Government Printin<2: Office and the document and folding rooms 
of the Senate and House of Representatives. In order to provide 
space for important Government activities these books have been 
moved from one building to another at various times at large expense, 
and are now stored in two of the barrack buildings in East Potomac 
Park, from which they will again have to be moved because of 
imminent danger of collapse of those buildings on account of their 
excessive weight. 

As the cost of moving and storing these books and the maps which 
\ccV)mpany them is excessive, and as they are constantly deteriorating, 
pvVs desirable that they be disposed of with as little delay as possible. 
/ The law now in force under which distribution of the Official Rec- 
■ orcls of the Union and Confederate Armies can be made provides for 
the distribution of that publication upon designations of the Senators, 
Representatives, and Delegates to the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh 
Congresses, each Member of those Congresses having bepn allotted 
three sets, one set for his personal use and two sets for jjution 

to such libraries as he miglit designate. Efforts have been made by 
this department to induce those Members of Congress who have not 
made distribution of their allotment of this publication to make 
proper disposition thereof, but approximately 62 Members of the 
Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses have failed to make desig- 
nation of distribution of the sets allotted to them. 

It has been held by the War Department that the right of distri- 
bution of this publication continued with each Member of the above- 
mentioned Congresses during his lifetime and that upon his death 
the set allotted to him for his personal use became the property of his 
estate, while the right of distribution of the two sets assigned to him 
for general disposition reverted back to Congress. 

Nearly 20 years have passed since Congress authorized the distri- 
bution of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 
But 6 of the 62 men who were in the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh 
Congresses are Members of the present Congress, many of the re- 
mainder are deceased, and the addresses of but few of those living 
are known. 

Under these conditions the impossibility of distributing these 
books under existing law is apparent. 

As before stated, there are 36,557 volumes of this publication noAV 
in storage in the Office of The Adjutant (Teneral. Of these 25,413 
volumes comprise 197 complete sets, of which 31 were allotted to 
Members of the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses for their 
private use and 166 for distribution. The remaining 11,244 volumes 
are practically valueless, because of the fact that complete sets can 
never be made therefrom, for the reason that the plates from which 
this publication was printed were destroyed in accordance with an 
act 5f Congress approved March 3, 1903. 

In view of the impossibility of distributing the sets of this publi- 
cation now on hand in accordance with existing law, and of the com- 
paratively few complete sets' now on hand, it is recommended that 
this matter be brought to the attention of the Senate with a view to 
the enactment at an early date of legislation, authorizing the Secre- 

I LIBRARY OF CONGRLSS 

: tr^jT:; OiVISiON 



DISPOSITIOX OF OFFICIAL EECORDS. 3 

tiiiy of War to make such disposition of the vohimes of this work 
now being stored in The Adjutant General's Office as he may deem 
to be in the best interests of the public service. 

The department has already presented this question to the Speaker 
■of the House of Representatives for his consideration. 
Respectfully, 

Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 

o 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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